Buffy: The Sailor Soldier
by Joshua The Evil Guy
Summary: Serena and the rest of the Sailor Soldiers are drawn to the Hellmouth, all for different reasons. Does Buffy and Serena's shared dreams have anything to do with it?
1. Prologue

Buffy:  The Sailor Soldier

**_A Buffy/Sailor Moon Crossover Event!_**

_Summary:        Serena and the rest of the Sailor Soldiers are drawn to the Hellmouth, all for different reasons.  They meet up with Buffy and crew after nearly getting killed by vampires and at least one demon.  But something brought them all here together for a reason.  Does Buffy and Serena's dreams hold the key?_

_Disclaimer:_      Joss, Sand Dollar Entertainment, and Monster/Enemy Productions, along with UPN and all the others own all the characters applying to Buffy and the like.  Sailor Moon and characters are distributed by DIC and owned by some Japanese anime artist that I've never learned the name of.  Marise Tsukino is the property of Fanfiction author Enterprise1701_D along with her history, her family, and her role as Sailor Earth.

**Prologue:**

                _It was dark.  That much was obvious.  Yet not so dark that she could not see.  Not that there was anything to see.  In fact that is all there seemed to be around her.  Darkness.  Nothingness.  Emptiness.  Somehow she expected it to be cold with the darkness.  That is how it worked right?  But no, no it wasn't cold.  It wasn't hot either.  In fact there wasn't anything to notice about the temperature, or the air, or even the flat dull surface she was standing on._

_                Reaching up, she brushed some stray blond hairs from her face, surprised to see her hand as though it were bathed in light after seeing nothing but the darkness and emptiness of the space around her.  She looked almost frantically around her, searching, seeking for the source of the light.  Nothing._

_                She sighed in frustrated resignation.  Turning in a fast circle, hoping to catch a glimpse of something, anything in this godforsaken place!  As she finished her dizzy spinning, her eye caught something just outside her peripheral.  She began her frantic looking again, and after nothing yet again, a strange yet bizarre thought came to her.  Maybe if she kept spinning, she would see it again.  And so she did._

_                It happened while her mind and body were losing themselves.  The image outside of her peripheral suddenly came sharply into focus right before her.  It was an image of a place.  In fact it was so real that it seemed to come _out_ of the nothing place she was in.  The first place that came into focus was both strange and uncomfortable, yet very familiar.  It was a circular room, with a raised portion in the back of it where stacks of shelves stood, empty for the moment.  Directly in front of the raised portion was a long wooden table with seven chairs set around it.  Across from the table was a long counter, which had what appeared to be an office behind it.  Just past the counter, straight out from the table were a pair of swing doors, and a cage full of books and other assorted items, that all seemed to belong there, to the right of them.  When she turned back to the table, she was more than a little surprised to see another nine chairs had joined the original seven.  It was surprising because the table hadn't changed in size one bit, though each chair seemed to have had a place at it._

_                All of a sudden, she thought she heard a noise.  Turning quickly around, the place instantly changed around her, though truthfully she never registered the transition.  The new place she was in was nothing short of absolutely beautiful.  Unlike the place before it, which felt uncomfortable and creepy however familiar, this place immediately made her feel like…home.  There were Cherry Blossom trees along every stone paved pathway, and several dozen or so stone steps leading up from the street to where she stood now.  She noticed the occasional crow, yet rather than creeped out and worried like she usually felt about the birds, they felt more like the guardians of this sanctuary.  Turning around, her breath caught in her throat as she caught sight of the beautiful temple that stood proudly before her.  It was obviously Chinese or at the least Japanese in origin, a Buddha Sanctuary temple of Light and Fire.  She had no idea how she knew that, but she knew it.  Before she could fully explore and take in the beautiful place, it shifted once again._

_                This time, back to the bleak, dark nothingness that had been her existence until then.  Surprised, she frantically turned around again and again, hoping to bring back the beautiful place, or even the creepy library.  Instead, an alter appeared.  As soon as she saw it, she knew that it was evil.  She also knew that she was meant to fight what this alter and this evil represented, but she didn't know how.  Suddenly a voice boomed out of the emptiness and spoke in a rhyme that terrified her more than the appearance of the alter._

**"**_ANCIENT QUEEN, FUTURE PRINCESS BRINGS FORTH THE KEY TO THE DESTRUCTION AND THE PASSAGE, CHOSEN ONE, TWICE HAS DIED, TWICE HAS RISEN, THRICE FOR DESTINY YET TO BE AWAKENED SHALL BE REVEALED, ANCIENT TALE OF WARRIORS, SOLDIERS, AND GUARDIANS SUNG WITH PROPHECY OF THE NINE, HEREIN YOUR HERITAGE AND ALLIANCE OF LIGHT, TRUTH, JUSTICE, PURITY, LOVE, AND DESTINY!!_**"**

                _And then without any warning whatsoever, she felt herself falling, falling into the nothingness, into the abyss of…_

                In her house, in her bedroom, Serena Tsukino shot up out of her bed, awake, screaming at the top of her lungs.  When she regained control of her senses, sweating in the fright still left over from the very strange dream, she realized that there had been two casualties in her surprise wakeup call…at three o'clock in the morning.

                "Oopsie," she muttered quietly as she noticed her dark blue cat, Luna grumble to herself as she walked as far as possible from Serena on the bed.  Meanwhile, her "cousin" tangled in the sheets next to her was in a world of hurt, having landed on her head, off the bed.

                "Rini, are you OK?" Serena asked quietly, helping the moaning young girl back onto the bed.

                So quickly that she almost screamed again, but managed to contain herself, Serena's door burst open as Marise, her housemate and her boyfriend/fiancée/soulmate's younger sister came into the room.  "Serena!  Are you alright?" she asked in a loud whisper, scanning the room with her eyes, looking for enemies in the shadows.

                Serena finished placing Rini back onto the bed safely, and then turned to answer her close friend.  When she did, her eyes immediately skimmed over the entirety of Marise's athletic frame before firmly locking onto her eyes.  She blushed a deep scarlet, grateful for the darkness for once, as she answered Marise.  Mostly because it seemed that Marise liked to sleep in the nude ever since she discovered sheets and beds, and her response to protect Serena from whatever had caused her to scream had forced her to forgo donning so much as even a robe.  Though Serena, as did Luna, noted that she was holding her power stick, which would allow her to transform into Sailor Earth.

                "I'm fine Marise.  Really.  I just had a nightmare.  I'm all right now.  I promise!" Serena whispered, desperately trying to avoid looking at Marise's pale features that were highlighted by the full moonlight streaming in.

                Serena was glad to see her friend visibly calm down when reassured that there was no danger to her friend and family.  Seeing the gears shift quickly in her friend's demeanor, as she had learned a long time ago to detect.  Reaching over for her bathrobe, which she always placed beside her bed after her evening baths, Serena tried her best to avoid gazing at Marise's beautiful naked form as she stepped closer, allowing her face to also glow in the moonlight.

                "Is Rini all right?" Marise asked as she accepted the robe that Serena handed to her, blushing as she realized that her older brother's girlfriend/fiancée had just seen her naked, even though it wasn't the first time, it was still embarrassing.

                Serena too shifted motors on that and immediately turned to attend to the injured young girl.  She was sound asleep, or maybe just unconscious, as she had hit her pink haired head.  Other than a slight bump, which should be better by the next day, she was perfectly fine.  "She'll be OK, just a small bump on the head," Serena reassured.

                Turning to the midnight blue cat with the gold crescent moon on her forehead, Serena apologized to her cat as well.  "I'm really sorry Luna, I didn't mean to throw you off like that!"  All they got was a mumbled cattish response, which Serena took as forgiveness.  At least until morning.

                "Do you want to talk about it?" Marise asked out of the blue.

                "Huh?" was Serena's automatic response.

                Marise smiled as she sat down on the bed next to her "sister" and repeated, "Do you want to talk about your nightmare?"

                Serena thought back, remembering in detail the places she had been.  A strange creepy library, and Rei's temple.  Then the voice, and the message that was boomed out so loud that she could never possibly forget it.  It was a strange dream for sure, but aside from the emotions she felt and the whole creepy factor of it, no one could have really called it a nightmare.  She shook her head and gazed appreciatively into Marise's eyes.  "I'll be all right Marise.  Thank you," she whispered huskily.  "You go on back to bed.  Keep the robe, I'll get it back to…well, later today." She said glancing at the clock.  Marise did as well and whispered back, "It is not really that late, and it is vacation time Serena, and I do not truly need as much sleep as one might think.  If…if you would like to talk…about anything, I-I…I'll always be here to talk Serena."

                Serena smiled serenely as she stared into Marise's soul.  Yet as deep as she stared, some things she would never understand about what she saw there.  She reached up her right hand and placed it delicately on the dark haired girl's shoulder.  "Thank you Marise.  I will always appreciate that, and you.  My Black Ops secret agent."  They both shared a quiet laugh at the recurring joke.  "I mean it Marise, I do appreciate you.  I even kind of love you, please never forget that, OK?"  Serena then leaned forward and kissed Marise on her right cheek.

                Marise quickly gained color in her cheeks as she continued to sit there, feeling the heat growing between her body and Serena's, and even to a far lesser degree, Rini's.  Gulping, Marise realized that she needed to go back to bed, quickly.  Nodding silently, Marise patted the hand on her shoulder and automatically leaned forward and kissed Serena on the opposite cheek, and then was out of the room faster than she had appeared into it.

                Sighing, Serena leaned back onto her bed and stared at the ceiling for several moments, briefly remembering how Marise looked in the moonlight, staring wide-eyed at her, with nostrils flaring, looking like some wild beast ready to fight to the death over it's mate, or a wolf fighting for the pack.  Sighing again, Serena finally closed her eyes, not truly sleeping, but resting.  After a long while she felt Luna finally climb back onto the bed, this time on Rini's side rather than hers though.  Finally, Serena fell back asleep.  She did not dream again.

_Over three thousand miles away and to the east,_

                In her house, in her own room, Buffy Summers sprung up from her silent slumber.  Her body was tense, adrenaline pumping after the strange dream she had just had.  After having more than a dozen or so of these types of dreams, she had long suppressed her reflex to wake up screaming.  When she regained her senses over where she was, sweating in the fright left over from the slightly strange dream, she realized that she had been asleep for barely an hour.  She had lain down for a nap at five o'clock and it was just a little past six now.  Recalling the dream's images, sure that they would have to be remembered for research, she was surprised, yet also not surprised at how much detail she remembered.

                The old Sunnydale High library where they all used to hang out to figure out how to save the world, that just so happened to be directly above the Hellmouth, which always gave her the creepers.  The sudden adding chairs still puzzled her though.  Normally there had never been more than the original seven seats there at a time.  Perhaps the chairs had meant those that had either moved on from the group or those that had taken others places.

                Speaking of both reminded Buffy yet again of Giles departure.  He had been the father figure, the steady rock in her foundation and perhaps the only thing that had helped her keep it together for as long as she had after her friends had brought her back from the dead, this time after three months, and ripped her away from heaven.  Sighing, Buffy lay back down, hoping to get some more sleep before having to go on patrol later that night.

                The other place suddenly sprung to her mind.  She had never gotten a good look at it in the dream, but reflecting back on it even now she could find that she remembered every single detail of the strange temple.  Immediately the image calmed her turbulent soul, and she remembered the peace she had felt in the dream, the feeling of…home.  Maybe it was a forgotten memory of heaven that had resurfaced in her dream.  But why show up in tandem with the Sunnydale High Library.

                Sighing once more, this time in the frustration of the realization that she would not be getting anymore sleep, Buffy stood up from her bed and began to get ready for the night's patrol.  As she passed her former mother's room, she heard quiet sobbing.  Willow, Buffy realized.  Ever since Tara had left, the same night as Giles had no less, the redheaded Wiccan was in grieving like no other.  Worse than even when Oz had left her, though for far different reasons than Tara had left.

                At the moment that she heard the heart-wrenching sound, Buffy remembered a long forgotten talk between her and her "bestest friend".  Where they were discussing college plans in the Sunnydale High courtyard, Willow telling her that she was going to the local college, just to be with Buffy and the rest rather than go to Yale or any of the other big Ivy league schools she had already gotten full scholarships for.  And Buffy had told her "that I kinda love you."  That was such a long time ago.

                Now, Buffy was almost as angry as Tara was right now at Willow.  But she never stayed angry.  But she didn't feel sorry for Willow either.  In all honest to God truth, she didn't feel much of anything about it.  Except bad, and confused.  That was all she felt nowadays it seemed.  Bad.  And confused.  Sighing, Buffy got ready for patrol, leaving Willow to her grief, and returning to her own.

****


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One:**

_Slayer:_

                Three weeks later, and Buffy had been having the same dream every time that she closed her eyes.  It certainly hadn't helped that something had happened that she could kill herself, again, for.  She had slept with Spike.  _Spike_!  Of all people!  Then there was the realization that he had provided for her.  Something that she couldn't tell anyone.

                She wasn't human anymore.

                Spike hitting her with no semblance of pain whatsoever was just enough evidence of that.  Buffy felt that the whole situation was starting to make perfect sense.  Ever since she had been "chosen" her life had taken it's long chute down the crapper, and now that she had died and been brought back to life, by her "friends", stolen from what she still believed was heaven, her death was following the same path.  She felt like crap, all of the time.  She slept with _Spike_, she wasn't even human, and Willow had endangered Dawn's life by following the very coarse that Tara had warned her against, and Dawn was doing her best to win the teen delinquent of the year award.  Ever since Giles had left, she was the only one left to deal with Dawn and she had definitely noticed her behavior.

                _'God, if I was like that with you Mom, I suddenly have a whole new respect for you,'_ Buffy thought to herself as she walked.

                She was on patrol, as she almost always was at night, walking through one of Sunnydale's several cemeteries, hoping against everything that Spike would not be on his own patrol.  While she was looking for demons and any other vampires other than him, he was always looking, or at the least always running into her.

                So when she actually found some she was more surprised than anything to feel a brief flash of disappointment that they _weren't_ Spike.  She really needed to talk to somebody about this, but Willow was spending almost all of her time in her room, Amy was off getting high on the magic buzz that Willow had been on that had almost gotten Dawn killed, and Dawn was staying as much out of the house and away from Willow as possible.  Xander was working, Anya was working, and Tara was nowhere that she knew how to get in contact with.

                Turning her attention to the vamps before her, Buffy slipped once more into the role of the Vampire Slayer, the Chosen One.

_Princess:_

                Serena, Darien, Rini, and Marise were climbing out of the taxi they had just taken from LAX.  Right in front of the Holiday Inn that they would apparently be staying in for their vacation break.  "I can't believe that _this_ is the _only_ hotel in the area that has any room for us!" Darien was saying.

                "Don't worry about it Brother," Marise consoled.  "We will make due.  At least we don't have to make our home in the streets.  I'd hate to have to learn a whole new territory and watch out for all of you at the same time."

                Serena and Darien smiled.  It had taken a lot for Marise to be able to joke about her past on the streets.  A lot of letting go, a lot of acceptance, and a whole lot more emotion to deal with.  Serena was glad that her friend was able to truly put her past behind her.  It had taken a lot, and it helped that Marise was also a Sailor Soldier, it helped her to feel like a member of a group.  To be accepted, loved.  Serena had always striven to make all of those around her feel like that.  Especially her closest friends.

                "Yeah, don't worry about it Darien," Serena supported Marise's sentiment.  "I don't care where we stay so much as we spend our time together.  This is the first time in a long time that we've spent together as a family.  So let's get checked in and get some sleep."

                "Actually, I'm not that tired." Marise commented.

                "Me either," chirped Rini.

                "It's part of changing time lines.  To us, it's still five o'clock in the afternoon.  Here it's almost if not already past midnight." Darien answered them.

                "OK, so after we check in, how are we going to spend time?" Serena put forth as they all entered the Lobby with all of their suitcases.  Three cases apiece per girl, while Darien only had a duffle bag and a camera case he had as his carry-on.  So ofcourse the only man of the group got stuck with carrying them all, though Marise had insisted that she would carry her own.

                "I'm hungry!" Rini chirped after a second.

                "Right, first stop, restaurant," Darien listed.

                "It would be a good idea to procure some kind of transportation other than our current bipedal state would provide," Marise said, apparently invoking a Vulcan at the moment.  Everybody in the group just stared at her for several moments before she finally tried it again.  "We need a car."

                "Oh!" they all chorused together.  Then Darien frowned as he realized how difficult that actually would be.

                "We'll just use the Taxi cabs.  I only have so much cash with me, and none of us are rich," Darien excused.  Turning to his girlfriend, Darien then asked, "What about you Serena?  What do you want to do for the rest of the night?"

                As they stopped in the line in front of the registration desk, Serena's eyes glazed over as she thought of her answer.  The answer she finally gave surprised herself as much as it did her companions.

                "The Bronze…"

_Slayer:_

                Buffy was actually surprised by the shear stupidity of the four vampires.  First, they didn't even know who she was, let alone her identity as the _Slayer_.  And when she pulled out her stake, they had the unfacited gall to laugh at her.  But she really didn't care.

                Instead, she just distracted them with one of her well thought of puns and immediately launched into a brawl with them.  She started at a run, jumped and kicked two of them with a well-timed split kick.  Once they were on the ground, she turned to the other two, who were just staring at her in what had to be the absolutely stupidest look on their distorted faces.

                "Wow," one muttered in awed non-breath, "How'd you do that?"

                "Yeah babe, how?" his crony chirped beside him.

                Buffy felt a brief flash of anger.  She kicked the crony in the chest and he fell back against the wall.  Then she stabbed forward with her stake hand, saying, "Practice.  Something which you'll never get to do I'm afraid."  She watched him fall and then turn to ash before her eyes, and by the time he hit the ground he was reenacting the Beetle's hit single.

                She turned around from her first vamp of the night just in time to see the other three running off into the night, screaming about a monster, which she found kind of ironic.  While at the same time majorly insulting.  Seeing as there was little other game going on tonight, Buffy decided to chase after them.

                Maybe Spike would…  She stopped that line of thought before it could even get started and focused on the vamps she was chasing.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two:**

_Princess:_

                "You know Serena, I thought you were joking when you said that this…_ 'Bronze'_ was a teen club," little Rini was saying as she started out over the dance floor, "but _this_ is ridiculous!"

                "I know exactly what you mean Rini," Darien and Marise said at the exact same time, staring at the same thing the pink-haired pre-teen was commenting about.

                "Oh come on guys," Serena admonished them, moving to the music blaring out of the speakers.  "It's not that bad!  So American's dance a little differently than we do.  And maybe a little more…" she paused as she caught sight of the couple they were all staring at.  The woman was moving against her partner as though she were in the throes of passion, while the guy just moved around her, groping at every chance he got.  "…uh, expressively.  But I'm sure that their just the exception!"

                Serena could have swallowed her words as the music changed.  Where it had been loud and booming, it was not loud and booming, and seductively slowed to a tempting beat.  Every other couple on the dance floor then began to emulate the couple that had caused the disturbance among the visitors, while said couple actually left the dance floor and went to the bar to get something to drink.

                "You know, I'm thinking that…maybe this wasn't such a good idea.  Let's just go back to the hotel and see what they have on TV." Darien suggested.  It was quickly voted on and unanimously decided to leave and go back to the hotel.

                They left within ten minutes of stepping into the club, so the bouncer was gracious enough to give them back their entrance fee money.  They began walking down the street they had taken to get here when suddenly Serena stopped.

                "Did you hear that?" she asked them.

_Slayer:_

                Buffy was having more trouble than she'd ever admit chasing the vampires she had come across.  There were only three of them in the beginning, and just the usual jump out punch and stake had taken care of one of them.  It was the last two that must have been marathon runners when they were mortal.  As they had ducked into a long alley, Buffy had taken a gamble and stopped at the mouth and threw her stake and the gambit paid off with the second one dusting.  Unfortunately, knowing how vampires could obsess, Buffy now had a _very_ long sprint ahead of her to catch up with the last.  That was when she noticed where she was.

                Less than a block from the Bronze.

                For some strange reason, Buffy had a sudden uneasiness in her gut.  This weren't more vampires, it was more like a sense of foreboding.  And she feared that it had to do with her dreams of the past few nights.

                Taking a shortcut, Buffy raced around the buildings until she was at the alley leading to the main entrance to the Bronze.  When she got to it, she saw the vamp she had been chasing stalking a group of young people a little younger than her.  She ran silently forward until she could make them all out.  When she saw the blond with waist length pigtails, her blood and heart froze.  Somehow, beyond knowledge or description, she knew this girl.  And she was about to get attacked.

                'Not on my watch,' Buffy thought forcefully as she ran forward to intercept the vampire.

_Thunder, Warrior, Lover:_

                "But I don't understand why they have to come _today_!" Anya whined to her fiancée Alexander "Xander" Harris.

                Xander sighed, exasperated and nearly exhausted from having to explain to his love why he was picking up his cousin and their friends at the Sunnydale Airport.  "An, I've explained this already.  Lita wanted to come to America and two of her friends also needed to come because of something that they needed to see or something like that.  Lita's father is already over here and her mother is staying over in Japan because that's where she lives.  Besides, Lita can help you with the wedding plans."

                Anya thought the entire situation over for an entire minute before saying, "Oh all right.  I just don't like getting out of bed and going somewhere in the middle of the night when we could be doing…other things."  Xander couldn't stop the blush that came to his face as he thought of the…"other things" that Anya was talking about.  "Later An, later," Xander promised.

                Fifteen minutes later, Xander and Anya were standing side-by-side waiting as the flight from Japan, with a slight layover in Hawaii, disembarked.  Slowly the number of passengers, mostly Japanese or English or uptight businessmen so far, began to dwindle and Anya was beginning to become impatient.  Again.

                "Are you sure this is their flight?" she asked.  Xander held up the slip of paper he had taken Lita's message on, and then the faxed receipt of the airline that held the flight information, including the flight number and the arrival time in Sunnydale.  Both were accurate.  Sighing, Anya stood still for another twenty seconds after another five passengers left the gate.  "Well, are you sure you could recognize her, I mean it's been how long since you last saw each other?"

                This time Xander sighed as he answered the woman's answer and pulled out his wallet, leafing through the pictures.  "True, the last time I saw Lita, Willow and I were in the fourth grade, and that was just before she moved to live with her mom, but I've always gotten letters from her.  Here's a picture of her with several of her friends.  Two of which I'm told are also with her.  This picture is less than three months old Anya, so don't worry about that." Xander answered.

                A few more minutes, after which the passengers coming off had dwindled to less than two every minute, even Xander was beginning to get worried.  Until three tall, casually dressed teenage young women stepped out with two carry-ons per arm.  The first, who also happened to be the tallest, had chestnut brown hair done up in loose ponytail held back by a turquoise hairpiece.  If one looked closely enough, or knew to look for them, they could see two bright pink rose earrings that adorned her ears.  On her right stood a delicate young woman of obvious Japanese origins with solid oil-slick black hair that fell gracefully all the way down her back.  She seemed to favor red as a color as most of her clothing was such.

                On the tall girl's left was another beautiful young woman, but her appearance seemed to be mixed between Japanese gracefulness and poise, and the blond hair blue eyes of European decent.  Her long yellow-blond hair fell just as far back as the raven-haired girls' did, but she also adorned her hair with a simple red bow that made her simple outfit almost glow.

                As soon as Xander saw them, he immediately tensed and grew a _very_ large grin on his face.  The three girls themselves were looking around until the tall chestnut hair girl caught Xander's eye.  She too seemed to become rapidly excited and dropped all of her bags, much to the annoyance of her companions.  Xander started to run forward to greet the woman, shouting, "LITA!!"

                When they literally collided into their hug, the brown-haired young woman, apparently Xander's cousin Lita shouted back, "XANDER-SAN!!"  They stood there hugging for a minute, until their respective companions came up to the pair and made coughing sounds until they got the hint and separated.

                "It's great to see you!" Xander exclaimed as he released his cousin from the death-grip of greeting.

                "It's good to see you too Xan!" Lita answered in a slightly accented English.

                Rei and Mina, the raven and blond haired girls, stood off to the side watching the cousins' reunion.  Mina leaned over and whispered to Rei in Japanese, "It's a good thing Serena isn't here.  Goddess, what a hottie!"

                "You know it is impolite to speak a foreign tongue right in front of a person that you assume does not understand it.  And I will be privileged to inform you that he is _my_ hottie.  Who is Serena anyway?" Anya chastised the two in flawless Japanese.

                Xander blinked.  So did Lita, Rei, and Mina.  "An I didn't know you could speak Japanese." Xander stated as way of question.  Anya just shrugged and continued in English.  "They said you were a hottie and I am feeling over-protective an jealous Xander, as your cousin and her friends are all beautiful young women that you would probably much rather look at than me…"

                Xander immediately let go of Lita and went over to his fiancée.  "Anya, stop that.  First of all, Lita's my cousin.  Second of all, both these girls have boyfriends that are probably just as big and protective as I am of you.  Third, I happen to know a little Japanese since Lita taught me some while she was learning it here in the States."

                "Right, you've got nothing to worry about…An?" Lita asked about the girl's name.

                "It's a nickname Lita," Xander explained.  "Allow me to introduce my fiancée, Anyanka, Anya for short.  Anya, allow my to introduce my cousin, Lita, and her two friends, uh…Rei and Mina?  Did I get that right?"  Both girls shyly nodded their heads.

                Suddenly Lita turned around and snapped something out very quickly in Japanese that Xander couldn't follow.  Anya however apparently could as when Lita finished she said, "Thank you Lita," in English, giving the other two girls a hard glare.  Rei, the black haired one Xander reminded himself, was turning as red as her outfit and had her head bowed.  Mina meanwhile was trying very hard it seemed not to laugh.

                "What did you say to them?" Xander asked as he picked up a couple of the girls' carry-ons.

                "Just a few choice words of wisdom," Lita answered, picking up her own carry-ons and the ones Xander was unable to get.  "By the way, how's Willow?  And I can't wait to meet this girl that's been in all of your letters.  What was her name again?  Becky?  Bunny?  Buffy?"

                Xander couldn't help chuckling as they made their way to the baggage carousel.

                "It's Buffy Lita.  Buffy Summers.  And you will like her.  Just don't make any height jokes."


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three:**

_Pure Water:_

                Amy Muzino, also known as the Sailor Soldier _Sailor Mercury_, was bordering on massive depression.  Normally she could handle being by herself most of the time, occupying herself with books and homework and Sailor business.  But ever since she and the others had graduated _into_ High School, passing the entrance exams with a rainbow of grades, to everyone's surprise Serena had actually managed a grade higher than the minimum required to pass, she had been bored out of her skull.  They had just graduated what American's called "Middle School" or Grade 8, and it was currently the summer vacation period.

                There were two really great things about this, in Serena's mind anyway.  First, no school.  Second, there were fewer to none monster attacks from the Nega-forces that they were destined to fight.  To Amy, this was just as much a relief as anything as with the other girls.  Unfortunately, it also left her with practically nothing to do, other than just be with her friends.

                This is where the depression part comes in.  All of her friends were doing other things at the moment.  Whether that be going on vacation, Serena, Darien, Rini, and Marise, or working all summer, Rei, Lita, and maybe Mina.  She hadn't heard much from the other Scouts, truth be told.  Rei had just mentioned something about being too busy at the temple when Amy had called over.  She hadn't even seen Mina since the last Scout meeting, which was over two weeks previous.

                Amy paused in her musings as she transferred her thoughts over to that of Lita.  A blush unconsciously spread across her cheeks and face, as they often did whenever her mind was focused on those of her lover, Lita Kino.  None of the other Scouts knew ofcourse.  Amy herself hadn't even known until just before the start of the summer.  The passion, the love, the…(a broad smile formed on her lips) _everything_ had just seemed to develop over time and had finally come to a head and…_burst_.

                In fact the only one that knew, besides Lita herself, was Amy's online e-mail friend, Redwolfbane999.  The two had been e-mail online buddies since before Amy was a Sailor Scout, and a certain trust was developed between the two, separated as they were.  Redwolfbane999 was truly called _Willow Rosenberg_.  And just this past year, Willow had shared something with Amy that made her feel not so alone in her position with Lita.  You see, Willow too had a female lover.  A "beautiful blonde", according to the digital friend, named "Tara".

So Amy had told her about the events with Lita.  Not in _detail_, but enough that Willow could and would support her feelings and sympathize.  Amy sighed.  Partly in love from missing her gorgeous brunette amazon, and partly in the abject misery of boredom.

Finally, after having _attempted_ to ignore her all day, Amy's father, Tenchi Muzino, a prosperous computer technician, stood up from the end of the table, folded his newspaper, and looked his wife, Ryoko Muzino, in the eye and found agreement reflected back through them.  He smiled and nodded, and together they trapped their only daughter, sitting on either side of her at the table.

For a whole minute nobody said anything, until Amy noticed that they were even there.

Startled, Amy was about to leave the table, when both her parents grabbed the back of her chair, preventing her from scooting out or away from them.  Amy grimaced, knowing that her parents wanted to talk about something serious with her and that there was now way out.  Sighing dejectedly, Amy looked up at her parents and asked in a respectful and polite tone, "Yes, Mother, Father?  Is there something that we need to discuss?"

_Slayer:_

                Buffy was racing as fast as she could to intercept the vampire, and for just a moment, it looked to her like she wouldn't make it in time.  Her heart lurched at the thought and she redoubled her efforts.  At the last possible second, as the vampire was walking towards the group with its human face on, Buffy decided to try something she saw in a movie once.  She jumped up onto the alley wall and kept up her speed well enough that she was actually _running _along the wall.

                She ran a few more steps and even ran up the wall a little further and then leaped with all her strength the remaining distance between her and the vampire.  She actually jumped far enough that she tackled the head of the vampire as it was approaching the group, rolling with it when she landed.  They struggled a little more on the ground, but the end result as it always was and was meant to be.  Dust on Buffy's clothing.

_Princess:_

                Serena and the other jumped and Rini screamed when the man that had approached them silently from behind was tackled to the ground by a flying blond girl.  The two rolled around on the ground for some time, before the girl, ending up on top, drove what looked like a wooden stake through the man's chest, and then he turned to dust right in front of them and more or less exploded as such in a cloud right in front of them.

                Unfortunately for the girl, most of it ended up on her clothes, but she didn't seem too bothered by it.  Instead she looked more concerned over them as she stood up and faced them, Serena in particular.

                "Are you all right?" she asked in voice full of genuine concern.  Her voice somehow seemed strangely familiar to Serena.

                Serena, startled at the least, nodded and answered, "We're fine.  Thanks to you.  What was that monster?  Dome kind of Daemon?"

                The blonde, who was at about Serena's height actually, looked strangely at her for several moments before responding further,  "Uh, no.  It was a vampire.  You know, Dracula, bloodsuckers, creatures of the night, that kind of thing?"

                Darien, behind her, nodded, "We know what you're talking about.  It's just surprising to actually see one.  And we're supposed to be on vacation," he muttered, the others knowing what he was really talking about, but the stranger hopefully misinterpreting his statement.

                Apparently she wasn't.

                "You don't seem to surprised to see that they actually exist.  Most people have problems with that.  In my experience anyway." She accused.

                Serena shrugged, "We're from Tokyo Japan, visiting for the duration of our vacation.  For the past several years, we've unfortunately been shown proof that the forces of darkness are very real.  Some of us have even been attacked by daemons."

                Marise could almost hit Serena across the back of the head.  Next thing they know she'd be telling her she was the Moon Princess!!  Darien and Rini shared her concerns over Serena's sudden talkative mood.

                The blonde just nodded her head, as though sympathizing.  "Know what you mean.  Well, this is your official, 'Welcome to the Hellmouth'.  Hi, Buffy Summers, seven year resident and one of the very few people around these parts that _actually_ knows what goes on.  And you are?"

                Serena smiled warmly and offered her hand, an American custom that she found almost required in meeting new people, "Serena Tsukino.  This is my family.  My fiancée Darien, my cousin Rini, and Darien's younger sister and my roommate, Marise."

                "Pleasure," Buffy commented as she took Serena's hand.  As soon as the two blond's skin made contact however, there was a flash of light and suddenly the two were no longer in the alley.


	5. Chapter 4a

**Chapter 4:**

_The Dream:_

                As the flash of light faded, both Serena and Buffy found themselves in a place familiar, and very frightening at the same time.  Their dream.  In the black nothing.  They could see each other as though they were bathed in light, though they couldn't see the source of whatever light it could be.

                "What happened?" Buffy asked looking around.

                When her eyes fell on Serena, and likewise, they widened in shock.  "What-what are you…wearing…?" Buffy started to say, then noticing her own "dress".  Serena stood before her what could easily be nightgown, yet was decorated more as an elaborate silk dress.  It was pure white, with gold trimming and sequins around the bodice, and decorative shoulder sleeves.  What's more, there were pearls in her hair that looked a great deal like feathers, and a strange tattoo of a gold crescent moon on the girl's forehead.

                "I was about to ask the same thing," Serena said in a weak voice, trying to understand what was happening.  Buffy was wearing something actually quite similar to Serena, in that it was white silk.  It actually looked like some kind of Greek toga, with golden shield clasps at both shoulders.  A golden silk rope was wrapped around her waist as a belt, along with sandals on her feet, also wrapped around her calves with the same gold silk rope.  She noticed that she had golden arm braces on her forearms as well.

                When Buffy looked back up after studying her new attire, she saw Serena's expression change to one of pure shock.  "Serena?" she asked carefully.

                "You-your…  Your of the Moon Kingdom?" Serena finally gasped out.

                "The what?!" Buffy near shouted.

                _"THE MOON KINGDOM,"_ a booming voice suddenly sounded.  _"OF THE SILVER MILLENIUM.  YOUR HERITAGE AND YOUR KINGDOM, SLAYER OF THE MOON."_

                "What?  What are you talking about?  Who…_what_ are you first of all?  Where are we?  What do you want with us?" Buffy began to shout.

                _"ARE YOU FINISHED YET?"_ the voice sounded rather impatient.  Both girls remained silent.

                _"GOOD.  NOW IF YOU WOULD BE A LITTLE PATIENT, I WILL TELL YOU YOUR PURPOSE HERE, AND WITH EACH OTHER."_

_                "YOU ARE BUFFY SUMMERS, SLAYER, THE CHOSEN ONE, GUARDIAN OF THE **KEY**.  YOU HAVE DIED TWICE ALREADY.  YOUR MOTHER DIED LAST SPRING, THREE MONTHS BEFORE YOU FACED OFF AGAINST A GOD BY THE NAME OF GLORIFICUS, OR GLORY.  TO PROTECT YOUR SISTER, YOU CAST YOURSELF OFF THE TOWER AND INTO THE ENERGY THAT WOULD HAVE KILLED HER.  YOU ARE A HERO."_

_                "YOU ARE SERENA TSUKINO, PRINCESS, SAILOR SOLDIER, FUTURE NEO-QUEEN SERENITY.  YOU WERE REBORN IN THIS TIME AFTER THE FALL OF YOUR KINGDOM FOUR THOUSAND YEARS AGO, SENT BY YOUR MOTHER, ALONG WITH YOUR COURT AND YOUR PRINCE.  YOU ARE THE MOTHER OF PRINCESS SERINA, HOLDER OF THE KEY OF TIME AND THE FUTURE SILVER MOON CRYSTAL.  YOU USE THE CURRENT SILVER CRYSTAL TO TRANSFORM INTO SAILOR MOON, PROTECTOR OF LOVE, JUSTICE, AND TRUTH.  YOU TOO ARE A HERO."_

                Buffy and Serena turned to look at each other and from the looks on each other's face, they knew the strange voice had spoken the truth, no matter how bizarre it sounded to the other.  Buffy looked back up at the voice, though she had no way of knowing where it could've originated from, and shouted, "How do you know so much about us?  What are you?  God?"

                Sudden laughter could be heard, and if either girl didn't know any better, it was a very feminine laugh.  _"NO GIRLS, I AM NOT GOD, NOR WILL I EVER CLAIM TO BE.  I JUST KNOW YOUR DESTINYS.  I KNOW BOTH OF YOU AS WELL."_ It said gently.  The blonds were stumped at that.  They had only just met and didn't know each other, how could this voice know _both_ of them, when they didn't even know the other.

                _"LET THE DREAM FINISH, AND I WILL EXPLAIN."_ The voice said after a moment.  In the next second, the dream took it's own course, but now they both had company.

                Suddenly, both Serena and Buffy were caught up in a dizzy rush, as though they were being spun around in place at high speeds.  When it stopped, the two were standing side be side in the destroyed library of Sunnydale High.  Though from the looks of it, it was still in pretty good condition.  What's more, there were now eighteen chairs at the table, which had still not grown from what it was, but it looked as though each chair had it's own place with plenty of room.

                "The Library?" Buffy couldn't stop herself from saying.

                Serena looked sharply at the strange girl that had saved her from the demon just a few minutes earlier.  This girl had short, neck-length hair, was only as tall as she herself was, and was dressed nearly identically to the way that her court had dress four millennia ago during the Silver Millennium.  Except for three things.  The gold arm bracers on her forearms, the golden shield clasps at both her shoulders, and then the one thing that drove the Moon Princess into shock.  A gold upturned crescent moon tattoo on her forehead, identical in every way to her own.

                "You know this evil place?" Serena bit out at her companion.

                Buffy looked up at the tone in Serena's voice.  She didn't particularly like it, but she could hardly blame the girl for being short with her.  "Unfortunately, yeah I do.  I spent the better part of three years here fighting that evil that is approximately two miles directly beneath this library.  It's directly above the Hellmouth, a portal that leads straight to Hell.  It's basically a mystical convergence, drawing in all these creatures and demons and a whole hell of a lot of strange things happen in this town too.  All because of this place."

                Serena now looked at Buffy with a new respect.  She was a warrior, a protector…a hero just like her.  And all the both of them wanted most out of life…was to be a normal girl.  "I understand," Serena whispered beside her.  Buffy only nodded, remaining impassive, despite the tears that she felt threatening to fall.

                "But I don't understand," Buffy added.  "There was never anymore than nine chairs here, and that was when it was crowded.  I mean, maybe they represent how many people have helped me.  There was Xander, Willow, Giles, Angel, then Cordelia, Oz, and…Faith.  And Ms. Calender.  But…  I just don't understand!"

                _"YOU AREN'T SUPPOSED TO,"_ the voice boomed once more.  _"NOT YET ANYHOW.  THESE ARE JUST THE CLUES SLAYER OF THE MOON.  YOU NEED ALL OF THEM TO COMPLETE THE PUZZLE."_

                "Oh, that's helpful," Buffy muttered sarcastically under her breath.

                In the next instant, Buffy and Serena were suddenly assaulted by that spinning dizziness, and as soon as it quite, they were in Rei's Temple.  "This is Rei's Temple," Serena told Buffy as soon as they both realized where they were.

                "Oh," Buffy muttered.  "I don't suppose that Rei is the Japanese name for God, huh?"

                Serena gave her a look that told Buffy her answer, along with what Serena was beginning to think of her.  "Well, it's…it's just that…like the big and up there voice said, I've died twice…and the last time…I swear that I was in heaven.  And I just thought…when I started having these dreams…that this was a memory of heaven."

                "I see," Serena said sympathetically.

                "Is there anything strange here.  Something out of place?" Buffy asked suddenly.

                Serena studied the area around them, and realized that she too could tell that something was missing, something that was…off.  Finally, she realized what it was.  There were no birds.  "The ravens," she muttered.  "There should be birds nearly everywhere here."

                "I wonder what happened to them?" Buffy wondered aloud.

                In the next instant, they were attacked again by the spinning dizziness and found themselves back in the darkness.  Buffy and Serena then muttered at the exact same moment, "I hate this part."  And as had happened before, the next thing that they saw was a golden alter with a strange and ugly dragon figurine at the center of it.  They both could feel the evil that it both represented and permeated.  Then it just seemed to fade out of existence, only to be replaced by a point of intense and bright while light that shone in the distance like a star.

                "What--?" the both started to scream, but they were cut off as the light became blindingly bright and in the next instance, they knew they were not alone.

                "Who…?" Buffy left her question hanging while Serena instead cried out, "Mother!" and raced forward to embrace the serene figure that had appeared to the two blonds.

                "Hello my daughter, hello Slayer of the Moon," the silver haired angel greeted.

To Be Continued…


	6. Chapter 4b

**Chapter 4 continued:**

                "What--?" the both started to scream, but they were cut off as the light became blindingly bright and in the next instance, they knew they were not alone.

                "Who…?" Buffy left her question hanging while Serena instead cried out, "Mother!" and raced forward to embrace the serene figure that had appeared to the two blonds.

                "Hello my daughter, hello Slayer of the Moon," the silver haired angel greeted.

                "Daughter?" Buffy asked Serena, who was no longer beside her, instead rushing forward to embrace the silver-haired angel.

                When neither angel nor girl answered her Buffy continued, "And what's with all this 'Slayer of the Moon' thing?  I'm a Vampire Slayer, not a moon Slayer, 'kay?"

                Finally the two let go of each other and it was then that Buffy noticed the striking similarities between Serena and the angel she had called mother.  Both had identical hairstyles, similar facial features, and from what she could see of each, identical body features.  Except Serena had a different dress style and the angel ofcourse had wings.  Gossamer butterfly-like wings, but wings.

                "I apologize Buffy," the angel said in a beautiful soprano voice.  "My name is Queen Serenity, of the Silver Millennium of the Moon Kingdom.  Serena is my daughter.  Four thousand years ago, as you today recognize time, my Kingdom fell under attack by an evil force from another dimension called the Nega-verse.  In order to save my kingdom, my daughter, and even to the point of the entire universe from this terrible threat, I sent them all into the future.  Yet Serena and her court were not the only ones I sent into the future."

                Buffy was just nodding her head, her eyes glazed over.  "Uh huh, I'm totally with you."

                Serena chose that inopportune moment to giggle at Buffy's obvious lack of understanding.  "Don't worry Buffy, I had it hard the first time I heard it myself.  Let me translate what my mother said.  Four thousand years ago, on the moon, there was this amazing place called the Moon Kingdom that had kickin' parties every night.  Then a bunch of demon soldiers from the Nega-verse, that other dimension, trashed the Kingdom and the only way to save everybody and to keep the Nega-verse from taking over was to send everybody, Nega-verse included into a future where we could properly defend ourselves from the Nega-verse.  About five years ago, I found out that I was the Moon Princess, and then the future Neo-Queen Serenity, meaning that the Moon Kingdom will be reborn on Earth, and then we can have parties every night like before."

                Buffy's eyes lit up as she got what Serena was saying, though some of the terms she used were still confusing.  "Cool," she chirped and then turned back to Queen Serenity.  "So what's this talk of 'Slayer of the Moon'?"  Buffy's face suddenly got thoughtful.  "Wait a sec, wait a sec!  You…you don't mean that…I'm from this Moon Kingdom too?"

                Serenity smiled and calmly shook her head.  "Please, don't jump to conclusions.  I will explain everything."

                "Then please do so," both blondes muttered, Buffy more sarcastically, Serena more pleading.  Serenity sighed.

                "Ten thousand years ago, demons reentered the Earth Realm.  From there, the demons quickly spread to the other planets and havoc and chaos reigned throughout the solar system.  In order to counteract this evil, the forces of light blessed each individual planet with a unique warrior, among other forces, that was destined to fight the demons and protect human kind.  That warrior was the Slayer.  A young girl because of the being of light that is the source of all of the Slayers powers and because the Slayer is meant to be the personal bodyguard for each planet's princess."

                "Whoa!  Just hold on for one second here!" Buffy shouted.  "You mean to tell me that thousands of years ago, every planet in the solar system had their very own Slayer and instead of getting a Watcher they had to protect some prissy pants snob princess?"

                "Excuse me!" Serena exploded.  "I happen to be the Princess of the Moon Kingdom, Ms. Slayer!"

                Both girls suddenly froze as a revelation hit them both at the same instant.  "Wait a sec," Buffy muttered.  "You kept calling me…Slayer of the Moon.  And…Serena's a Moon…Princess?"  Queen Serenity nodded.

                "First, you should be aware…the self-proclaimed "Watcher's Council" is nothing more than a farce funded by demonic efforts.  There never existed anything as a "Watcher" until long after the fall of the Moon Kingdom.  This Council was made to destroy the Slayers of each generation by taking her away from the source of her true power.  Her family, her friends, and by taking away her love and her purity and by warping her destiny by telling her that she was destined to die.  That is not true and it never was.  A Slayer is meant to live, to love, to protect, to uphold justice, truth, and to fight for Light by killing darkness."

"Each planet's Princess are actually warriors all on their own.  They protected the Moon Kingdom from outside forces, such as the Nega-verse and other forces of darkness.  Slayers worked with the Princesses and primarily fought the demonic forces, which often combined with the Nega-verse in disturbing ways.  Over the years, the Slayer's powers have been limited because of the interference of the _Watchers_.  You have abilities that you never even knew existed Buffy.  Your physical strength and speed have been increasing as of late, yes?"

Buffy silently nodded, her eyes wide as she absorbed what the angel said like a sponge.

"That is only the beginning.  You have "died" twice already Buffy.  Each time, you removed layer after layer of the evil influences of the Watchers.  In order to remove the last of it…" Serenity let the sentence hanging.

"I don't understand," Buffy admitted.  "You tell me that I'm one of nine Slayers…"

"Ten actually.  Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Earth…and Earth's Moon, the central of the Moon Kingdom.  But life no longer resides on the other planets, only on Earth.  _You_ Buffy are the reincarnation of the Slayer of the Moon that I sent to the future after the fall of our kingdom, but you were held by the laws of Earth's Slayer.  When you died at the hands of the vampire master, you no longer were held by those rules…and became the Slayer of the Moon once more."

"When the Earth's Slayer, you knew her as Kendra, died, you had already accessed a greater potential of the Slayers powers than had been accessed in over four thousand years.  Therefore, the next Earth Slayer could also now access a greater level of her potential without the need of dying.  Since your second death, both of you have gotten stronger, and when you reach the full power of a Slayer, so will she."

"Faith," Buffy realized.  "You're talking about Faith.  All right, so I'm the Slayer of…the Moon, and Faith is the Slayer of the Earth?  So who's the Princess she's got to shack up with?"

Serena started.  "Marise?"  Serenity nodded at her daughter's observation.

Buffy looked confusedly at Serena.  Serena caught the glance and just muttered, "I'll introduce you…after."  Buffy nodded.

Buffy turned back to Queen Serenity.  "Now what the hell do you mean I have to die one _more_ time?"

Serenity just stared back at the blonde Slayer, not saying anything.  "Listen to the voice of your dreams.  It tells you what must happen in order for life to continue.  The roads you travel, my daughter, Slayer, are long and hard, and very dangerous.  I love you both.  You protect this world from what cannot be defended from, only held back.  I believe in you both."

With those final words, the angel that had once been Queen of the Moon Kingdom, faded from existence and in the next few seconds, as Serena and Buffy stared at each other in their white silk and crescent moon foreheads, the very reality around them began to fade, until they were no longer in the dream.  Suddenly, they were violently awoken, and both golden haired girls found themselves staring at each other, in their street clothes, back in the alley with Serena's family.

"Serena!" Darien shouted as he caught her just before she would have fallen.  Buffy just stumbled back a little and managed to catch herself.  That was when she noticed she was still holding Serena's hand.  _'Boy, we must have looked pretty silly holding hands during all that.  Funny, cause I don't remember holding her hand in the dream.'_ Buffy thought to herself.

However the dark haired girl, who just seemed to be a shorter and female version of the male holding Darien, decided that Buffy somehow had something to do with Serena's loss of balance and before the Slayer could move, Marise was behind her and tried to get her in a hold to keep her from running.  Buffy on the other hand didn't feel like being held in such a manner and easily countered nearly all of Marise's attempts until she finally was force to push the oil-black haired girl to the ground.

Marise looked up in shock at the strange blonde woman that had somehow affected Serena with just shaking her hand.  Marise jumped to her feet and got into a an attack pose, but Serena, who had just lost her balance, not consciousness, stopped her.  "Marise!  Buffy!  No!  Stop!!" Serena shouted.

Marise, only through her constant hours of training, stopped in an instant.  Buffy, who hadn't moved, didn't move.  Buffy took in the situation.  Serena, still being held by a tall dark-haired hunk that she took to be the other blonde's beau.  Next to them was a smaller version of Serena with pink hair, and then there was the girl trying to attack her, that had stopped at the name "Marise."

Buffy looked at Serena and tilted her head towards the girl in front of her.  "Marise?" she asked.  Serena nodded.  Frowning, Buffy continued, "The Princess of Earth?"  Marise, Darien and Rini all started at that question   Serena grimaced a little but nodded again.  "Cool."

Buffy then turned to go, but again Serena stopped her.  "Buffy!  Wait!"  Buffy stopped.

Serena wormed her way out of Darien's hold and went up to the other blonde.  "What about…you know, what happened?  What are we going to do about it?" Serena asked with concern.

Buffy shrugged.  "Not sure.  Right now I plan on going to the Magic Box and talk with Willow and maybe even Anya and tell them about…well just about everything and maybe we can interpret my dream, I mean our dream and then we can hopefully find some way of me getting the true power of a Slayer, whatever that means, _without_ me dying that is and not to mention finding out what that whole evil vibe alter is."

"Oh."

Darien, Marise and Rini all came up behind the couple and Darien took it upon himself to be the spokesman for sanity at this moment.  "Serena," he started in Japanese, "what's going on?  Who is this girl?  How do you know her?  What just happened?"

Serena looked down and blushed, while Buffy just tilted her head and looked funny at Darien.  Then she answered in flawless Japanese, "My name is Buffy Summers.  And as for how I know Serena, well, we just met.  By the way, could anybody please explain to me how I'm speaking fluently in another language?"

Serena, for Buffy's sake, answered in English.  "Maybe it's because I speak Japanese.  We, well, we are connected in a way."

Buffy nodded in understanding.  "Makes sense.  I guess.  Come on.  If you're here at this hour, I'm sure that you don't mind spending a few more in a place where we might actually be able to get some answers.  Any objections?"

Serena gave a glare at her family, then turned back to the Slayer and answered for all of them, "No, no objections.  In fact I insist that you take us to this…Magic Box?  Besides, we need answers, and a back alley next to a loud American dance club is no place to have a serious discussion.  Right Darien?"

"Uh, right?" Darien mumbled as he and the other two girls fell in line behind the two blondes.

"Oh Darien!" Serena gushed.  "You're the best boyfriend in the whole world!  Thank you!!"

"Boyfriend huh?  He's cute," Buffy observed quietly.  Serena only smiled in return.

_To be continued…_


	7. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

                _Pure Water:_

                Ami couldn't even begin to believe her luck!  Here she was, in the United States with her parents for the International Medical and Sciences Convention in LA!  And while she was quite interested in actually attending the conferences, her real reason for excitement was that she might somehow manage to bump into Lita, since she was here on the West Coast as well.  Now if only she could remember his name or the town he lived in…

                Ami stopped all her dubious thinking as she caught sight of a very familiar and very friendly face.  "Hotaru?" Ami called out to the pale gangly black haired girl.

                The girl in question stopped at the use of her name and turned to face Ami.  They quickly locked eyes after that, and Hotaru's look of confusion vanished as one of overwhelming joy took its place.  "Ami?  Ami!  I can't believe it!  Is it really you?" the sickly girl that was in truth the most powerful Sailor Soldier next to Sailor Moon herself bubbled as she came over.

                "Yep!" Ami answered excitedly.  "Sure is!  I can't believe that you're here as well!  I take it your father is here for the Convention as well?"

                Just as Hotaru was nodding, the man himself came up to the two young ladies at his mention.  "Hello Ami," Dr. Tomoe greeted warmly.  "What an unexpected pleasure at seeing you here.  Now Hotaru won't be as bored out of her mind as she thought she might be."  The three laughed.

                Three others weren't laughing as they came right up to the meeting and a woman with short boyish blonde hair snapped, "Not that any of us would have been that bored to begin with."

                Dr. Tomoe tried to repress a groan of frustration, and succeeded in keeping a degree of pleasantness in his voice.  "Hello Hamara, Michelle, Trista," he greeted stiffly.

                "What are you three doing here?" Ami asked, surprised beyond belief that the four Outer Sailor Soldiers would all be here at the same time that she had arrived.

                Unfortunately, Ami didn't get her answer as her parents came up behind her and the other Sailors.  Dr. Tomoe, who knew everything, was gracious enough to warn them by keeping up with his welcomes.  "Tenchi!" Tomoe yelled, "You old dog!  I take it that you and Ryoko are here for the Convention as well?"

                "You better believe it Cyclops," Tenchi shot back.  "Hey Ami, I see that you've found some friends."

                "Dad, Mom, I'd like you to meet several of my friends.  Hotaru Tomoe you already know, this is Trista Mayo, Michelle Kaiou, and Hamara Ten'ou," Ami introduced everyone all around.  "These are my parents, Tenchi and Ryoko Mizuno."

                Everybody bowed, except Hamara, who just tipped her head in greeting.  It was felt that was the most anybody would get out of her.  Ami decided to broach a subject since they had shown themselves and asked Hamara, Michelle, and Trista, "So what brings you three to the States?  I'm sure it's not the Convention."

                "No," Trista answered before the other two could even think of opening their mouths.  "We're here on a work study.  You remember our major, don't you Ami?  Occult and _dark_ arts?"

                Ami started, but quickly regained control of herself.  Then she silently nodded her head in understanding, but said no more.  Dr. Tomoe thought that a conversation needed to start up again and he turned to his daughter.

                "Hotaru, I'm afraid that all of the hotels in the city are booked solid because of the Convention," Tomoe explained.  "The nearest place I could get us into was a Holiday Inn about a half hours drive from the city limits.  And I need to check in with the Convention Committee and take care of some things.  I'm sorry sweet pea."

                Hotaru tried to give all she could of a smile, but there was no fooling anyone.  "It's OK dad.  At least I won't be lonely," she said looking hopefully at Ami.  Ami looked uncertainly at her parents.

                Tenchi just smiled at his daughter.  "Unfortunately, we were in the same boat and we're in the same hotel in a little suburb called "Sunnydale."  I'm not sure exactly where it is, but we were just planning on taking a cab anyway…" Tenchi said.

                "That's funny, because the hotel I got us in is in Sunnydale," Dr. Tomoe interrupted.

                "My what a coincidence," Michelle smiled secretively.

                "Oh?" Ryoko intoned.

                "We're in the same hotel, since the work we're doing is at the local college," Hamara explained.

                "We'd be glad to give you two girls a ride," Trista added, "Since you're friends and all."

                Ami and Hotaru turned to their fathers and got all hopeful and teary eyed, and whined as one, "Pleeeeeeaaaaaasse?"

                Tenchi and Tomoe chuckled identically at the same time.  They gave each other a look, and then nodded to their respective daughters.  "Yesss!" Ami and Hotaru crowed, hugging each other.

                "Just please…be careful," Tomoe begged as he hugged his daughter as the scientists were making ready to leave.

                "Don't worry," Hamara clasped the Doctor on the shoulder, "We'll take good care of her.  Of both of them."

                Tomoe smiled dejectedly, but he finally left, following after Tenchi and Ryoko.

                Ami turned to Trista, figuring she was the best chance she had of getting any answer at all, and asked, "All right Trista, what's going on?  Why are you, Uranus, and Neptune here?"

                Trista just held up her hand and Ami was forced to wait until they had rented a car and were on their way out of the city.  Finally, Trista and Michelle turned to the other two girls, Hamara was driving.

                "Something is going to be happening very soon," Michelle cryptically began.  "None of us are sure what, but we are sure that it has something to do with the Moon Kingdom.  It is no coincidence that all of the Sailor Soldiers are converging here at this time.  You, Hotaru, Serena and her family, even Mars had a vision that she and the others she took with her _had_ to be here at this time."

                "I don't know exactly what is going to happen," Trista continued, "but I am sure that if we fail…"

                She didn't have to say anymore.  Ami and Hotaru's imagination could come up with enough scenarios on their own.

_Thunder, Warrior, Lover:_

                Xander was driving along Highway 42, the quickest way from the airport to his and Anya's apartment, when Rei suddenly spoke up from the back.  "Stop!  Where are we going?" she shouted.

                Xander was so surprised that he nearly drove off the road.  "Geez!" he cursed, casting an annoyed glance back at the raven-haired amazon.

                Lita answered in Japanese, "To Xander's house Rei.  We kind of don't have enough money for a motel room, and Xander said he has the room.  Why?"

                "No!" Rei shouted again.  "We need to go some place else.  Some place different!" Rei was speaking English, her accent more than obvious and distorting her words.  Xander sighed.  He spoke back to Rei in Japanese, figuring that she would feel more comfortable conversing in her native language.

                "Why is it exactly that you don't want to go to me home Rei?" Xander winced at his mistake, but it was said.

                Mina giggled a little, bringing Rei's attention all the way to her.  "Mina, remember those words or symbols or whatever!  That I wrote down from my vision?  That you said was actually English?  What did it say again?" Rei shouted at the blonde.

                Mina winced and pulled out the paper that Rei had written the sign from her vision on.  "Well, the way drew it…it looks like," Mina started in Japanese and finished with the English, "The Magic Box."

                Xander froze.  The car began to slow down, but kept going at a decent rate.  Slowly, he turned his head to look his fiancé in the eye.  She looked back at him, and they saw the identical look of foreboding in each other's eye.

                "Anya?" he asked, more for permission than curiosity.

                The ex-demon just sighed and picked up her purse and opened it.  Then she closed her eyes and counted to ten.  Buffy told her to start doing that when she felt like yelling at Xander, since he didn't like that.  Then she looked back at the man she loved and asked her own question, "Prophecy?"

                Xander turned back to the road and nodded his head.  He answered with the same dread that she had asked the question, "Prophecy."  Xander changed his plans just a bit and made the next turn that would take them to the magic shop.

                "Well, I've got the keys right here," she told him.

                "Xander?" Lita asked, confused.

                "Anya owns the magic store where we…have a special club meeting every no and again.  It's called the Magic Box," Xander told her.  Lita sat back and nodded, her eyes wide with the revelation.  The three Sailor Soldiers turned to each other and set their faces with their determination at what the signs all were leading to.


	8. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6:**

_Slayer and Princess:_

                "Hunh," Buffy grunted as she looked in the store's dark windows.  "Guess Anya closed up early tonite.  Oh well.  Let's go around back.  Less suspicious that way."

                "Less suspicious than what?" Darien sarcastically commented in English.

                Buffy just shrugged and wordlessly led them all around the corner of the shop until they were at the back entrance.  There, Buffy produced a key, which slid easily into the lock and opened the door.  Marise couldn't help being suspicious on her own and stopped Buffy with a hand on the blonde's shoulder.  "You have a key?!" the silver-eyed Sailor Soldier accused.

                Buffy looked back at her with dead eyes, eyes so emotionless and empty that they surprised even the street-hardened woman.  Marise took a step back, but glared back at Buffy with her own cold eyes.  Buffy finally nodded, breaking the building tension.  "Yeah, but I'm not the shop owner and it would have looked suspicious enough to investigate to the cop that was across the street.  What we have to discuss shouldn't be interrupted."

                "I saw him.  He wasn't looking at us," Marise snapped.

                "You're right," Buffy said as she entered the back room of the Magic Box, where she normally trained.  Where she used to train with Giles…

                "The cop wasn't watching us.  He was watching me.  His name is Detective Stein.  He's been out to get me for a couple years now.  Don't know why, and I really don't care."  Buffy flopped down on the couch as the Japanese tourists filed in, Darien closing the door behind Rini.

                "Buffy, what's wrong?" Serena begged as she sat next to her counterpart on the couch.

                Buffy shrugged Serena's hand off her shoulder and sat straighter on the cushioned seat.  "So what do you guys want to know?  Well let's start at the beginning I guess.  My name is Buffy Summers.  I'm a Slayer.  A Slayer is a mystically empowered warrior that fights, hunts, and kills demons.  This town, Sunnydale, sits atop the Hellmouth.  A mystical convergence that is in actuality a portal that leads straight to hell.  Thus the name 'Hellmouth.'  Any questions?"

                "Why you?" Marise accused once more.

                Buffy just shrugged and muttered, "Who else?"

                Serena was confused for several seconds.  "What about that second Slayer you and my mother mentioned?  What was her name?  Faith?"

                Buffy's replying snort cut off all further questioning.  "Faith…why not Faith?  Good question.  Here's the answer.  Faith is a murderer.  I don't know what happened, but…it was an accident.  We were out on patrol one night, what we call hunting for demons," Buffy answered Darien and Marise's questioning looks, "and we were looking for this boss-type vamp that was supposed to have been killed a hundred or more years ago.  We…we didn't even see him until he jumped out.  I…even I didn't know he was human until…until it was too late."

"Faith…both of us were going on automatic, just reacting to the environment, the danger.  She…she _staked_ him.  He was just a normal person.  He…he was looking for us.  To give us information that would help us.  And she killed him.  It was an accident…but Faith didn't care.  She even had the nerve to say it to my face.  She didn't care.  After that, none of us ever trusted her again.  Least of all me."

Buffy absently wiped away a couple tears that she had cried without realizing it.  "I don't know how or when, but Faith went Rogue on us.  She started working with the demons and the vampires.  In the end, it all boiled down to me taking her down before the final showdown with her boss.  I put her in a coma.  She stayed in the hospital for 4 months.  And, and when she woke up…well believe me when there was hell to pay."

"She switched our bodies.  She took and almost ruined my life, while I was stuck getting out of the messes she got herself into.  Obviously, my friends and I figured a way to make things right…but Faith ran away.  It was all for the best.  She ran to LA, where another old friend is staying…and he actually managed to help her.  She turned herself in and as far as I know, she's currently in County lockup and has been for the better part of two years."

"And why is this important?" Marise asked, a little friendlier, or rather just less colder, seeing how the topic affected Buffy.

Buffy looked up at the former Princess of Earth.  Then she looked up at her Princess, as difficult as it might have been to accept, Buffy still found herself thinking the thought.  Serena nodded.  Buffy turned back to Marise.

"Because, Princess of Earth," Buffy began formally, "Faith is to be your partner.  I am the Slayer of the Moon Kingdom, and Serena is my Princess.  Faith…we are told, is the Slayer of Earth.  And you, Marise Tsukino, are _her_ Princess."

_Earth_:

                Faith wasn't for certain, but she had learned to trust her instincts enough to know when something was up.  Or was about to happen.  It had been a long time, nearly two years since she last had this particular feeling.  She and B used to call it their "Spider sense tingling."  Now, with a whole lot more free time on her hands to watch the boob tube, Faith had a new name for it.  She got it from this kick-ass European TV show after the movies by the same name, "Highlander."

                See, in both the movies and the TV show, there were these guys that were Immortal and chopped each other's heads off with swords.  Anyway, whenever one of these guys got close to another of these guys, they had a 'buzz' go off in their heads, kinda like an early-warning system.  Faith was feeling the "Buzz" right now.  She only ever got it when she either felt or knew that B was close, or was gonna be real soon.

                Faith had found herself spending allot of her free time thinking about B.  Nothing too gushy or nuthin', just thinkin'.  Thinking about all the patrols they'd gone on together…the feeling of being a perfectly in sync, unstoppable team.  Of all the things that Faith regretted the most about her mistakes and her past…it was giving up that team with Buffy.

                Heck, she even missed the Scooby meetings that they used to have.  Now that was a team.  Only five high school kids and the High School Librarian, against all the forces of darkness that the Hellmouth could throw at'em.  Now that is impressive.  Faith couldn't help but miss being apart of it again.  The first thing, she vowed, when she got outta here (she was only in for destruction of public property and disturbing the peace and Assault and Robbery, at most three years, tops!) she was gonna do everything she could to make it up to B and the Scooby Gang.  She might start with Angel and his crew, but her goal was making it up to B.  Just to be a part of a team once again.

                Faith suddenly stirred in her nighttime musings.  She sat up and looked around her pitch-black cell.  _Nothing,_ she thought to herself, wondering what could have woken her.  Suddenly, like an epiphany, she knew.  _'B needs me.  She's coming to get me.  I've got to be ready to help her,'_ were her thoughts as she got down off her bed and started stretching on the cold cement floor in her undies.  As soon as she was stretched, she began to do pushups.  Later in the night, she switched from pushups to sit-ups and stomach crunches.  Several hours after that, with the muscles throughout her body screaming for mercy, she jumped up from her seat on the floor, and then jumped up until her hands were touching the cement ceiling.  But before she could fall back to the ground, her hands actually _dug into_ the cement ceiling and she started doing pull-ups until dawn.

                _'I'll be ready B,'_ Faith vowed.

TBC…


	9. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:**

_Slayer and Princess_

                Marise stared unbelievingly at the two blondes.  "I don't believe you," she said with complete conviction and seriousness.

                Buffy grimaced and nodded.  "I didn't expect you to.  Personally, I have no idea why I brought you here.  All I know is, I'm chasin' down some vamps, see one about to get Serena here, then I take it out and introduce myself like any good superhero should do.  The second that we touch, there's a flash of light and I'm back in a dream that I've been having for the past few weeks and Serena's in a white silk dress with a yellow moon painted on her forehead, and I'm in a toga beside her, and according to her I _also_ have a moon painted on my forehead.  So you will excuse me if I'm a bit tired from just about everything that's been happening recently, okay?"

                Nobody spoke after Buffy's words, but Serena placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.  Buffy didn't push her away, but she didn't say anything else either.  Finally Rini, who had been silent up until this moment, walked up to Buffy and looked into the girl's hazel eyes with her pink/red ones.  "My name's Rini.  I'm Serena's cousin.  And…for what it's worth…I believe you.

                Buffy smiled and gently caressed Rini's cheek.  "Thank you Rini.  You know you remind me a lot of my sister.  Her name's Dawn.  I think you two might get along pretty good."

                "Yeah, well the brat here," Serena spoke up, "could use a good babysitter.  Though I'd tell your sister to be careful, Rini can be more than a handful at times.  I'm speaking from personal experience I'll have you know."

                At Rini's scowl, Buffy couldn't help herself and giggled some.  "Well, no offense Rini, but I think my sister could probably give you a run for your money.  Sometimes I think that she's been running for the 'Delinquent of the Year' award."

                "She can't be nearly as bad as the brat, can she?" Serena asked, a tinge of worry working its way into her voice.

                Buffy smiled and lifted an eyebrow at the concept.  "I don't know.  Right now, Rini I think that you are an adorable and polite young lady and it might do Dawn some good to spend some time with you.  Maybe not with you," Buffy directed the comment at Marise, "But for right now, we're here to research something called 'Prophecy of Nine' and something about a _tale of Soldiers, Warriors, and Guardians._'  At least I think that's how it goes."

                "Prophecy of Nine?" Darien repeated.

                Buffy nodded as she stood up.  "Hopefully, its in one of Giles' books that he left here.  Come on, it's a research party!"

                Not knowing what else to do, the foreigners quickly followed Buffy out to the main room.

_Thunder, Warrior, Lover:_

                Xander was just pulling up to the _Magic Box_ and putting the car in park when he saw two things that immediately disturbed him.  First, was Detective Stein staked out across the street, passed out in the front seat.  The second was Rei jumping out of the car and then just staring at the store like it was both a nightmare made real and the most beautiful sight in the world.

                "What the…!" Xander cursed as he quickly parked the car.  As soon as it was safe, he jumped out of the car himself and ran up to the raven-haired girl and started yelling at her in Japanese to the best of his ability.  "What in the world do you think you were doing you fool!?  I almost had a freakin' coronary when you pulled that stunt!  Don't you _ever_ do something like that again!  Do you hear me in there?"

                Rei wasn't paying any attention whatsoever, too busy staring in awe at the sign above the magic store.  It was almost as though Rei had been wondering if her vision was real, constantly second-guessing herself, and seeing the store in person…proved that she wasn't crazy.  Xander sighed and stopped trying to reprimand the girl and turned to Lita and Anya, getting out of the car much slower than Rei and Xander had.

                "That's strange," Anya muttered before Xander could say anything more.

                His face falling, and his gut following the same path, as he turned to her and asked with dread, "What?  What's strange?  Besides Rei jumping out of the car nearly giving me a heart attack in the process and then staring at our place of business in a catatonic state, that is."

                "No, the lights are on," Anya said matter-of-factly.

                "Oh," Xander replied with a frown.

                The group moved forward, Anya taking out the store keys, then Xander caught a glimpse of movement in the back of the store through the front window.  "Hold on, I think someone's in there," he told the women.

                "I see them too Xan," Lita responded.

                Anya's eyes widened in fear.  "They better not be robbers!  If they're robbers, then they've come to take my money!  Xander you can't let them take my money!  You go stop them.  Beat them up and stuff!"  Anya opened the door and shoved Xander through.

                _'Gee, thanks An,'_ Xander thought to himself as he grabbed a somewhat handy long piece of wood under a sign labeled 'Wizard's Staffs' and stalked forward.  He almost yelped, but managed to stop himself when he felt a hand on his shoulder.  Fortunately it was only Lita.

                "Don't worry Xan, I've got experience in 'beating people up and stuff'," she smirked at him and crept forward with him.

                When they both saw who it was, and what they were doing, they stopped dead and dropped their mouths open in shock.

                "BUFFY!"

                "SERENA!"

                "Hi Xander," Buffy said casually from where she sat at the "research table" with a book in front of her.

                "Hi Lita, what are you doing here?" Serena said in the same manner from opposite Buffy in the same position.

                "What am I doing here?  What are you doing here?" Lita shot back.

                "Researching," was the simple reply from all at the table; Serena, Marise, Rini, Buffy, and even Darien.

                "Researching," both Lita and Xander replied dully.  They received nods as confirmation.

                Xander sighed a chuckle and asked, "What's the matter Buffy?  We lose our resident Watcher so now you're holding interviews for other foreigner researchers?  You aren't are you?"

                "No Xan.  I've been having some dreams recently, you know prophecy type dreams, and it turns out that Serena here has been having the same dreams.  We found each other about an hour ago after they were attacked by a vamp and I slayed said vamp, and then this really weird vision thing happened and I found out that I'm actually a reincarnated Slayer from four thousand years ago and that Serena is the Princess that I'm supposed to protect from demonic forces and there's this whole new evil coming up and the only way for me to defeat it is to die again and then come back, _again_, and get something called the 'true power' of the Slayers and then I brought Serena and her family here to research the Prophecy of Nine and some story involving warriors, soldiers, and guardians.  Oh, and this is Darien, Rini, and Marise, Darien's sister." Buffy answered him.

                Lita and Xander just stared at the group, in particular the short blonde that had just turned back to the book in her hands.  Then they slowly turned to look at each other.

                "Okay.  I'll go and see if the pizza place is here.  I'm sure Anya's got some snack stuff around here anyway, but you can ask her.  Lita, you want to come with and be snack gal or wanna stay here and get an early bead on being research gal?" Xander asked.

                Lita looked back and forth between the group at the table and Xander.  Then she turned and followed him back toward the door.  They stopped when Rei and Mina both shouted, "SERENA!  WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

                Just before Xander and Lita were about to exit the store, none other than Willow Rosenberg stepped into the threshold.

                "Hi Xander, what's going on?  Dawn got worried when Buffy didn't come back on time from patrol, so we thought that there might be a big bad afoot and came here," Willow informed him as the younger Summers behind her stepped forward.

TBC…


	10. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8:**

_Pure Water, Destroyer, Lightning, Deep Water, Guardian of Time:_

                Ami and Hotaru were becoming restless.  It had been nearly two hours since they had crammed themselves inside this too big SUV and still there was no sign of the so called "near by suburb" Sunnydale!  Ami was beginning to wonder if Hamara was lost.

                Just as she was opening her mouth to speak, the short blonde haired woman snapped out, "I am _not_ lost Ami!"

                _'How did she do that?'_ Ami asked herself while closing her mouth, knowing it better than having another flytrap in the car.

                Hotaru beside her was dozing lightly, sometimes her face scrunched in pain or fear and she whimpered from the nightmares Ami knew the girl was having.  She often had the same dreams on her restless nights.  Ami sighed and turned to look out the window again.  She was surprised to almost immediately see a sign that said, "Welcome to Sunnydale".  Ami smiled.

                _'I just hope it doesn't take two hours every time to get from L.A. to this Sunnydale,'_ Ami thought.

                "It wasn't getting from L.A. to Sunnydale, it was getting from L.A.X. to Sunnydale that took two hours!" Hamara snapped again.  Ami realized that she had spoken her thought aloud.

                "Sorry Hamara," Ami apologized in English.

                "You're English is very good Ami," Trista noted as Hamara tried to find her way through the small town.  "Unfortunately, Hotaru's is not, you may have to play translator.  Uranus, Neptune, and I may be too busy dealing with finding out this threat to be much use in that regard."

                "Don't worry Pluto," Ami immediately comforted, "I'd consider it an honor.  And I've been helping both Rini and Serena with their English in anticipation of their trip here to the States.  I don't think Hotaru will be any worse of a student.  She might even be better."

                There were soft chuckles of agreement throughout the car at that, and then silence returned.  Until Hotaru started to whimper again.  To take their minds off of shared nightmares, Michelle asked Hamara, "Do you know where we're going?  You have the address, right?"

                "Ofcourse I remember the address," Hamara answered immediately, speaking with a gentler tone than when she snapped at Ami.  "It's the occult shop on South Main Street.  Called "The Magic Box" right?"

_Magic Box:_

                Serena and all the other girls gapped at each other, while Marise and Buffy and Darien looked confusedly back and forth between their friends on the stairs and Serena and Rini.  Rini had gotten to her feet when Dawn had come into sight, while Serena had gotten up to better explain to her friends what she was doing _here_, because they already knew that she was going to be in the States.

                While the other girls spoke in Japanese to each other, catching up, which the Americans and those still researching tried to tune out, Rini and Dawn slowly stepped towards one another.  Nobody really noticed this as strange, since the two were closer to one another's age than any of the others that were forced to hang out with.

                "Uh, hi, I'm Dawn," the youngest Summers introduced herself.

                Understanding the greeting, and that Dawn was probably not as fluent in Japanese as her sister (since that had more to do with magic than anything else) Rini just smiled, waved and simply said back, "Rini."

                "Uh, so…how old are you?" Dawn asked, hoping to strike up some semblance of a conversation.

                Rini paused for a moment, rolling her ruby red eyes upward in thought.  Finally, after a minutes time she answered, "12."

                Dawn frowned.  Seeing that she was running head long into the language barrier, she tried a different tactic.  "So how long has your older sister been a super hero?" she asked, unintentionally stopping all other conversations in the room with that one question.

                Rini giggled, and without even realized answered in her native tongue.  "Since she was about fifteen.  She's nineteen now, in High School.  We're out for Summer break and wanted a break from daemon fighting too, so we came to America to "get away from it all."  Oh, and Serena's not my sister!  She's my mom.  I'm from the future.  The 30th Century to be exact."

                "Cool," Dawn answered back, not missing a beat and understanding every word as though it were English.  "My sister's been a super hero since she was fifteen too.  But I'm only like…maybe a year old.  I'm a mystical Key made into human flesh by these monks to keep me away from this demon bitch named Glory.  She's dead now, but I'm still the Key.  Not that that means anything."

                "DAWN!" Buffy shouted across the room.

                "RINI!" Darien and Serena shouted across the room.

                "Oops!" the two girls winced at their blunders and turned to face the wrath of their peers.

TBC…


	11. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9:**

_Magic Box:_

                "Dawn!  I cannot believe that you would just blab out something so important like that!  You didn't do stuff like that back when Glory was still around, did you!?  If you did I am amazed that you're still alive right now and even more so that Glory _didn't_ get her pit-fire hands on you sooner than she did!" Buffy was yelling at her sister.

                "RINI!  You blabbermouth!  You do not go around telling total strangers, as soon as you meet them, everything about yourself and all of your secrets.  I cannot believe that you could be that selfish you little brat!  I don't know why or how I still tolerate you after all the things you've done to me you ungrateful little…" Serena was yelling at her future daughter.

                The two youngest shared sympathetic looks with each other before grinning at each other and then pointedly turning their back on their still yelling guardians and walked over to the register counter to get to know each other a bit better.  "HEY!" both Buffy and Serena yelled at the same time.  "Don't you walk away from us!  We're not done!  You are in such big trouble right now!" the both continued to yell in synch.

                It wasn't until there was yet another chime of bells from the front door that the two blonds calmed down and everybody turned to regard the new visitors.  The first, a medium build girl about 18 years old with shortly cut blue hair with marine blue eyes in a pair of dark slacks and a pink sweater.  She was flanked by a much shorter and extremely timid looking wisp of a girl with pale skin, neck-length midnight black hair, and wide purple shaded eyes.  Behind them were the ones that got Buffy's attention though.

                The one Buffy immediately classified as first threat was a woman at least a foot, maybe more, taller than her with boyishly cut dirty blond hair and angry blue eyes.  The one next to her had shoulder length aqua green hair that fell in smooth waves and had the same color eyes.  Both were dressed identically, in jeans and blouses, though the hard-eyed blond had a black shirt while her companion had a soft green blouse.  Yet it was the last that Buffy knew had to be both the leader and the most powerful out of these three.  She was the tallest, except maybe for Darien, in the room, and had green hair so dark she briefly mistook it for black flowing in a ponytail down to her waist and was dressed rather conservatively.

                "AMI!" Lita suddenly shouted and ran forward and embraced the blue haired girl, and before anybody could react to that, kissed her fully on the lips, and it soon became more than obvious that the kiss was being reciprocated.

                "I missed you," Lita whispered to her love, her Ami, after they finally released each other.

                "I missed you too," Ami whispered back and almost kissed her amazon again, but a small slight cough from Serena and Buffy quickly broke them up.

                "Ami, Hotaru, Hamara, Michelle, Trista?" Serena listed the names of the strangers, "What are you doing here?  Come to think of it, what are we _all_ doing here?"

                "I'm afraid, your highness," Trista answered formally, stepping to the lead of the group, "that we're about to find out.  Some dark force is awakening here atop the Hellmouth, and only the Sailor soldiers can stop it.  No offense to the current guardians atop the Hellmouth, but this force I am afraid is too powerful.  Even for the Slayer."

                "Wonderful, another Glory," Xander muttered darkly.  Then he looked up at his cousin with the blue haired girl.  "And what is it with me and the girls I grew up with turning out to be lesbians anyway?!"

                That elicited some soft chuckles, but the tension was running too high for anything else to come of it.

                "Don't worry, it's not you Xander," Willow assured.  "Besides, I didn't see you complaining when I let you watch me and Tara kiss when you drove us home that night."

                Xander nodded his head, conceding the point, but flushed red when Anya exclaimed, "You drove them home _'that night_'!?"

                Xander managed to contain the urge to roll his eyes and turned to his fiancée and explained.  "It's not what you're thinking An.  We were patrolling over the summer, see?  And it was late and I was just driving them back to their house, uh Buffy's house and they started to…well mess around a little in the back seat.  I swear, I said and did nothing, and drove straight home after dropping them off.  Then we…well, that was the week that you and I…" Xander's eyes gave most of the hint of what he was saying, and Anya figured it out, remembering the week in question.

                "Oh!" she briefly exclaimed.  Then she frowned.  "So the entire time you were having sex with me you were remembering Willow and Tara kiss?"

                "No!" Xander denied immediately.  Then he scooted closer to Anya and whispered, hoping only she would be the one to hear him, "I, uh, I was actually thinking, um, about _you_ and Willow and Tara kissing…each other."  Anya was left blinking for a couple seconds after that before responding with a slightly deflated, "Oh."

                "I really did not need to know that," Buffy muttered.

                "Same here," Dawn snapped from across the room.

                "I didn't quite follow it, what did he say?" Rini asked in Japanese.

                "Never mind!" Buffy and Serena snapped back, one in English, the other in Japanese.

                "So what are you three doing here?" Rei asked suddenly.  "You never show up unless…unless its about to get really bad."

                "How bad?" Willow couldn't stop herself from asking.

                Buffy and Serena shared a glance, both knowing _exactly_ how bad this one was going to get.  Trista and Hamara answered the red witch's question anyway.  "Bad," Hamara said shortly and extremely ominously.

                "The last four times that we have worked in tandem with the Inner Sailor Soldiers," Trista began, "It was the end of the world each time.  The first, we stopped the Sovereign of Silence, most of downtown Tokyo was destroyed as a result of that battle.  The second, we stopped the world from becoming a frozen block of ice, and the third, we returned just in time to help the Scouts save thousands of children from an endless sleep where their dreams were used to fuel something called the Black Dream Hole.  It would have swallowed the Earth and had us all living in an endless nightmare if it hadn't been for Sailor Moon.  And the last…"

                Another slight cough, from Serena only this time, stopped Trista mid-sentence.  The slight shake of the Moon Princess's head was all it took to end the explanation fully.  "It was just as bad," Trista finished.  "And this time, it may be something worse.  As it stems from the Hellmouth itself.  We are used to dealing with Daemons, but those always have an agenda and are weakened by our own magical powers.  Pure demons, that congregates around the Hellmouth…  They are more for pure destruction, and their agendas lead only to complete destruction of everything.  And while our powers are actually three times as effective against them, they are simply too numerous to handle, even with all of the Sailor Soldiers here."

                "So in other words, we're facing an army and we need to help each other just in order to survive," Buffy summarized.

                Trista nodded, but before she could speak, another voice answered.

                A craggily, deep and deathly dark voice spoke suddenly from the back room.  "_Too true Slayer, too true.  Sadly, it will not do you any good._"  Every one turned in shock and stared in partial disbelief as twenty seven foot tall demons that looked like they were made out of stone, lava, and ice, entered and filled the other half of the room.  Dawn and Rini quickly joined the mass of Slayerettes and Sailor Soldiers, those at the table jumping up as well.

                "_Kill them,_" came the order.  "_Except for the young ones and the two blonds in the middle.  And Her!  Kill the rest._" He pointed at Hotaru.  The demons surged forward, and the melee was on!

TBC…


End file.
